Who’s in Control of Our Health?

To many it would seem as if we are losing control of our health. Several issues have arisen which, taken together, give some cause for concern. For the last three days, arguments have been heard before the Supreme Court with regard to the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The purpose of the Act could be seen as noble in that one of its goals is to make access to care more inclusive. The approach to implementation has some citizens feeling as if they are coming under a regimen that doesn’t address costs adequately and forces some decisions that in the past had been left to the individual.

Also, there have been some recent articles on the diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics due to defensive adaptations of the very diseases the drugs are intended to address. They simply may not be effective in the future. This, too, can make people feel as if they do not have control over their health.

Less well-known and understood, there are those who rely on more spiritual ways to achieve and maintain their health. These individuals may not be so concerned about the federal law as it impacts them, so long as it does not deprive them of access to spiritual means, nor would they be terribly alarmed about the diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics, except for their empathy for those who do feel dependent on such drugs.

As one of those who does find their health through a healthy and spiritually-focused way of thinking and living, I never feel that my health is under the control of a man-made system or an authority other than the divine authority that one can find in Scripture or in recent examples of spiritual healing. I find great comfort in the Old and New Testament accounts of healing, the example of Jesus and his followers, and in more than a century of healing of all types of challenges that can be read in the volumes of healing found in any Christian Science Reading Room, available throughout the world. Those works are never beyond our understanding and use and they are well within our control to study and experience, irrespective of legal debate and pharmaceutics.

So, one need not fear that his or her health is under the control of other individuals. That is a choice we can control.